INDIANAPOLIS – Heading into Saturday night’s UFC 119 event at the Conseco Fieldhouse in Indianapolis, conventional wisdom stated that Frank Mir would be in trouble if he stood with vaunted striker Mirko Filipovic.

Of course, conventional wisdom assumed “Cro Cop” would be willing to take a chance at some point in the main event of the pay-per-view card.

Instead, Mir and Filipovic engaged in 14 minutes of one of the least memorable fights in recent history before the former heavyweight champion unleashed a knee to the chin that left the Croatian kickboxer out cold on the mat.

Right from the start, Mir showed the confidence in his improved standup attack. Instead of rushing in for a takedown from distance, Mir was willing to engage Filipovic on the feet as he worked into the clinch. From there, Mir would occasionally look for takedowns, but his opponent showed capable defense against the cage.

As the fight wore on, the pace remained slow, and the sell-out crowd expressed their displeasure. At times, it appeared referee Herb Dean was the busiest man in the cage as he repeatedly restarted the multiple stalemates. And just when it seemed the fight was destined for a ho-hum result, things quickly changed.

Filipovic dove in with an overhand left, and Mir deftly avoided the blow while firing off a counter knee. In a blink-and-you-missed-it moment, Filipovic dropped to the canvas, and Dean halted the fight.

Following the stunning finish, Mir said he wasn’t trying to keep the fight on the feet.

“My strategy was to take him down,” Mir said. “I was trying to do well, but I knew he was dangerous.”

And while the finish was truly the only real highlight of the fight, Mir did point out what he had just accomplished.

While “The Ultimate Fighter 8″ winner Ryan Bader has always been respected as an elite-level wrestler, against his toughest opponent to date, Antonio Rogerio Nogueira, “Darth” showed he is becoming a more well-rounded fighter.

“Little Nog” successfully fended off several takedown attempts in their three-round affair, but the Brazilian didn’t enjoy quite the advantage on the feet that many MMA observers predicted.

Nogueira often appeared hesitant to unleash more than single power shots, perhaps hesitant to allow Bader to drop under the punches and take the fight to the floor. Unfortunately for Nogueira, Bader still found those openings.

Bader’s brightest moment was in the opening round when a powerful ground-and-pound attack appeared destined to find the Arizonan as just the second person ever to stop Nogueira. But the Brazilian showed his legendary chin and continued on.

Bader did appear to slow in the third, and Nogueira tried pressing until the final bell. He found openings for his vaunted boxing in spots, and it was unquestionably the closest frame of the contest. But a pair of Bader takedowns coupled with a few clean shots of his own scored him the final round, as well, and he walked away with a 30-27 win on all three cards.

With his undefeated record intact, Bader (12-0 MMA, 5-0 UFC) appears destined for a showdown with the highly touted Jon Jones. Meanwhile, Nogueira (19-4 MMA, 2-1 UFC) suffers his first defeat since February 2007.

While their first meeting nearly four years ago was hardly an enticing affair, welterweight veteran Chris Lytle and Matt Serra did better the second time around.

Unfortunately for Serra, “Lights Out” did much, much better.

In what resembled a boxing match far more than a mixed martial arts contest, Lytle and Serra went toe-to-toe for the duration of the bout. But with his hometown crowd behind him, Lytle showed once again why he’s received a UFC-record seven “Fight Night” bonuses.

Lytle stood firm in the pocket and delivered strikes from all angles. Serra refused to back down and tried to match the attack punch-for-punch. But while the first round was relatively close, Lytle grew stronger as the bout wore on.

Serra finally switched things up in the final round with a few kick attempts and a takedown effort, but he was battered, bruised and unable to stop Lytle’s advances. In the end, Lytle was awarded a clear-cut unanimous decision, 30-27 on all three cards.

With the win, Lytle (30-17-5 MMA, 9-9 UFC) is currently riding a four-fight win streak, matching the longest such run of his career. He’s also now .500 in the octagon for the first time since 2005.

Meanwhile, Serra (11-7 MMA, 7-7 UFC) said he has no regrets for engaging his opponent toe-to-toe.

For five minutes, former UFC lightweight champion Sean Sherk looked to be in vintage form. The “Muscle Shark” went back to his wrestling-heavy attack, put Evan Dunham on his back and opened up a huge gash beside his opponent’s right eye. Sure, Sherk got his neck caught in several submission attempts, but as he always has, the former champ refused to tap and pulled away to safety.

But as the fight wore on, the dynamic changed. Sherk shifted to a more striking-centered attack, and Dunham began to capitalize on his massive reach advantage. In the second, Dunham appeared to take control, especially in the latter stages of the frame. But there was still the blood pouring down his face and body.

In the final frame, Dunham really came alive. Sherk returned to the shot, but he seemingly lacked the power to finish the takedowns. When Dunham did hit the deck, he popped immediately back to his feet. Once there, he punished Sherk with long punches, as well as brutal front kicks and knees.

In the end, it all appeared to come down to your opinion on round two. For two of the three judges, that meant giving Sherk the nod and awarding the former champion a split decision.

Despite having his neck attacked relentlessly for the 15-minute affair, Sherk said he was always safe. Of course, that doesn’t mean he knew who would walk away with the win.

“It’s very hard to choke me,” Sherk said. “I knew I had the first round very decisively. The second round was close. The third round was close. It could have gone either way.”

With the win, Sherk (34-4-1 MMA, 8-4 UFC) tastes victory in the octagon for the first time in nearly two years. Meanwhile, despite suffering the first loss of his career, Dunham (11-1 MMA, 4-1 UFC) likely gained a legion of new fans.

The evening’s first main-card bout was many MMA observers’ pre-fight pick for the evening’s “Fight of the Night.” Instead, lightweight sluggers Melvin Guillard and Jeremy Stephens found it difficult to land much more than single-blow attacks throughout their 15-minute affair.

Stephens opened the action quickly and clipped Guillard, who stumbled briefly to the mat, just seconds into the fight. But “The Young Assassin” quickly regained his wits, and it was the only real trouble for either fighter for the remainder of the contest.

Stephens remained the aggressor for much of the fight, but Guillard proved extremely difficult to hit. Guillard’s reach and footwork made it difficult for Stephens to hit the mark often, but Guillard’s attacks generally came only when his opponent dropped his hands to taunt his foe’s lack of engagement.

In the end, it was a closely contested bout with only a handful of highlight-worthy moments. All three judges interpreted the matchup differently, and Guillard was awarded a split-decision victory with wildly varying scores of 28-29, 29-28 and 30-27.

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